A Close Call
by Frazzles
Summary: After an intense battle of near fatal consequence, the heroes of Paris come to terms with their own morality and face up to the secrets that they have been hiding from for the years that they have been acquainted - the very identities that they intended to keep, and the feelings that they truly hold.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Hello, friends! The following piece of literature is the first multi-chapter I have done in a long time and intend to _actually_ complete. So, I should make it known that it is going to be a reasonably shorter fic to what most are used to, approx. 3-5 chapters in length of about the same word count and time for writing. That being said, please enjoy! **

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In the night sky of the metropolitan suburbia that made up Paris, a petite white butterfly softly fluttered away into the darkness, free from the bindings of the corrupted akuma that bared it's plight, floating out into the world in a peaceful bliss. The day had been saved again by the power duo known to Parisians as the Miraculous Ladybug and Chat Noir, the capital's exclusive superheroes. From a fixed point of view, it seems that they did a good job at reversing whomever was infected with subjugated sorcery to their sane state as well as any damage had been done to the city as a whole.

But battles are not always won mentally as they are physically.

The girl with blue-black hair curled into dual pigtails clad in the smooth mesh red suit with ebbing black polka dots on the body and the eyemask sat upon one of many slanted rooftops of the city skyline with knees to her, looking down on the city below with sunken morale. Beside her, a blond young man with a belt like tail, dressed in black and an eye mask that coated his vision green was crouched with an arm around her, as if to comfort.

The battle had been long and hard, as well as nearly proving fatal. And the scars of that encounter were already showing.  
"Are you alright?" Chat Noir turned his head to Ladybug, eyes fixed downwards.  
"Good question."  
"Was it because of that fight?" Concern rang true in his voice. Ladybug sighed and moved her eyes to contact that of Chat's.  
"I nearly died today... I nearly died and I would have ever seen anyone i thought were important or family, ever again." Tears looked as if they were welling up. "Nice one, Ma- Ladybug." This was arguably the most vulnerable Chat had ever seen his beloved princess, and that was saying something – she could hold herself out in a fight. It was remarkably impressive on how she kept her cool, but by God, this was different. This wasn't Ladybug at all.  
"Hey, I nearly died too, y'know. Save some of the sulking for me." A grin spread across his face, just to try and rile her into cheering up. A slight break of salvation in Chat's method made way, as the corners of Ladybug's small mouth sprouted slightly upwards. But it was a sad smile. One of self loathing. She stayed staring out into the night. Chat flattened his legs horizontally and sat down next to her, following the direction that his lady's eyes were travelling."We really cut it close, huh?"  
She nodded curtly. "We've been doing this for about 4 years now, and neither of us has come as close to that before then..." A silence washed over them, only to be broken by her anguish. "God, I am so stupid! What would have happened if I had just been a few feet closer?"  
"My lady, I – "  
"My friends, my parents, my- my everyone, what would they have thought if I suddenly just disappeared? What would that be like? Why did I almost put them through that, I just ..." Tears were forming in her eyes, looking perilously close to falling from them. Before she could say more, Chat wrapped his arm around her and locked her in an embrace. Ladybug gave a sharp breath, but relaxed almost immediately afterwards. There was a weird bliss about this whole embrace. It was... comforting. Chat pulled away, looking deep within Ladybug's eyes.  
"Listen, I know it was close, and I know that you feel in shock. I'm there too." He grabbed her hand and placed it on his chest – his heart was still racing.  
"I understand why you're acting like this, my lady, but we're alive, and we did it. Hell, even I thought it was going to be a close one, but we succeeded and we did our job." Chat gave a smile that was far different to that of the usual cheek-filled grin that always whiffed of sneakiness and cockiness. It was warm, calming, almost peacefully tranquil as the soft wind that blew the summer breeze. Behind the mask, Marinette saw it as something she had seen before. Something familiar.  
A deteriorating beeping alerted the pair of them. The earrings that were clipped to Ladybug's ear lobe - her Miraculous - were running out of power. She was going to revert back to civilian form.  
"Well, guess it's time to say goodbye, my lady," Chat Noir picked himself up quickly and turned away. "I'll see you next time."  
"Wait."  
Chat paused, spinning on his heels to face her. A strange flush of red has washed over her face. "Stay."  
Chat was bewildered. "But, you're going to transform back. You set your rule of not knowing who we were, right?"  
She was still quiet as silence passed by. "I... I want you to know."  
"What?!"  
Ladybug shot a hard stare back. "We've done this too long. We almost lost our lives. I trust you – if anything like that happens to me for real, I need –"  
"Don't talk like that..." Chat quickly interrupted. "You're just shaken up from the -"  
"-I need someone to look after and protect the people I love when I'm out of the costume," She finished, despite Chat's interruptions. "Like I said, I trust you. We've been doing this for a while now. I see that maybe we should let each other know for real."  
Chat took all of this in hesitantly, but nodded slowly. "As you wish, my lady."

She took off the earrings. A bright light shone. And before the cat-clad Adrien Agreste, dumbfounded in shock, stood a very , nervous and blushing Marinette Dupain-Cheng.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Thank you all for the many favourites and follows that you have provided this little story! It warms my ikkle heart. Enjoy the slightly longer chapter 2!**

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"Marinette?" Chat blinked. Adrien's mind rushed at the sight of his friend, although such a term with that reference to endearment suddenly felt questionable with the circumstances. _Ladybug is the sweet girl from the bakery? I fell in love with Marinette? Does she know I'm who I am? NO, of course not, we promised the whole thing about revealing our identities, but she's not a stupid girl. She could already know..._  
"Yep. It's me." Marinette said quite softly, with a hint of bashfulness in her demeanour. She was embarrassed. Chat could tell, she could tell, if anyone else was watching this they would probably tell too.  
"Wow. You're really Ladybug? That's... that's crazy..."  
"Guess I'm not really the badass the costume makes me out to be, huh?"  
Chat allowed himself to be absorbed within the bewilderment for a moment. The pure fact that the girl he loved was a girl who he saw in real life all the time right under his very nose. The fact that he was standing was a surprise to himself. Marinette...  
"Did... did you have any suspicions?" Marinette hesitantly questioned. Chat's heart rate levelled a bit, calming down partially to rationalise with what had just been revealed. "I can't say I have, no." Marinette glanced down to the floor of the roof, grasping her arm and turning away from Chat, only just realising that she was embarrassed about the fact she just told her civilian identity to a potential stranger. She opened her mouth to speak, but Chat got there first.  
"But, then again, I can sort of see things on how it had to have been you."  
"What do you mean?"  
Chat's face broke into a smile of endearment. "Well, my lady, it seems as if that your persona as Ladybug has done it's duty as to switch to your civilian form..." Marinette shot a look of puzzled intruige. "You see," he continued, "every time that you have seen me in civilian mode whilst I was like this, you acted in the same way – you were strong willed, determined, agile, kind and certainly fearless at most times."  
"You've demonstrated the skills you exhibit when you're in the Ladybug costume, it's like you and Ladybug have never and will never be different."  
Marinette blushed lightly. She had never heard such things of positive enforcement about her, ever. But Chat wasn't done.  
"To be honest, it's when _I'm_ in civilian form is where there is a huge difference, I suppose."  
"What do you mean? What-" Marinette took a second to decode the cryptic message Chat had just said – she knew him _outside_ of the whole super hero thing?  
"Do I know you?"  
Chat chuckled to himself. He turned away and briefly reflected the Parisian skyline that stood before him. The stars that were gently glistening in the night sky shimmered in the most astral way. The lights of the streets were dim, but gave a glow that was warm and soft. Out in the distance, the Tour Eiffel was lit up in the cast of a shimmering gold idol to liberty. Even the moon herself was out. This was the time. The mood was right.

Under the Cat Suit, Adrien took the biggest breath of his life.  
"I think it would be safe to say that we know each other. We have had the pleasure of seeing each other near enough every day, and every day I think about the first moments where we genuinely connected." He laughed quietly to himself. "I remember every little quirk that you have, every awkward stare, every little blush that you went through just to coherently making a sentence. I remember the cards, the voice messages , the gestures, I remember the good times, like the gaming tournament and you making that hat by hand for that competition."  
"I even remember the very first time that we met. I remember that scowl of distaste and... loathing I was already so used to by everyone around me. I remember how you hated me and refused to speak to me. I remember..." Chat drifted into thought. "Well, I remember it all. But what I don't just remember – I know – is that when it comes to you, Marinette, no matter when you're yourself or Ladybug, I –"

Unfortunately, Marinette had to get her line in first. "Wait."  
Chat was confused.  
"Before you say anything - because I know what _this_ is - I need you to know I... I love someone else."  
Chat felt blunt at that reveal. "Oh." All of a sudden the suspense that he built up and the closeness to his gesture seemed to have been prematurely cut off. An awkward aroma of quiet entangled them. The sky all of a sudden felt mute, the stars naught but cheap lighting, the Tour Eiffel a damned paperweight. "Who would that be, my lady?" Chat asked, a strange combination of sadness and determination filling his voice. He had nothing to lose, he may as well should find out.  
"His name..." The awkwardness that Marinette gave was close to nostalgic. "His name is Adrien. Adrien Agreste."

Adrien's face slowly curled into a modest, yet tooth filled, grin. She just made this a hundred times easier to say.

"With all due respect, princess, I would like to finish what I was saying." Marinette flicked her eyebrows upwards – she didn't expect a continuation. Then again, that was typical Chat Noir behaviour – always the flirt no matter the circumstances. "I was going to say, that when it comes to you, I remember one specific thing. That drizzly rainy day, when I had a way home and you didn't. I remember you listening to how I wasn't the bad guy you thought I was. I remember when I spoke about how I had few friends. I remember the fact that you believed me when you were in a position not too."  
Marinette was busy connecting the dots before the wrecking ball of a statement hit her.  
"But do you know what I remember most?" Chat said, hands closing in on his ring. "I remember giving a girl an umbrella, and seeing her blush as I walked away from the first friend I truly had." It was then that the connection was made almost immediately. "Wait, so you're... but you can't..."

Chat whispered something to his Miraculous. A green light filled the sky and bubbled out into the surrounding air like fireflies . The light faded away, embraced by the natural night.

And before Marinette, who had no words and a red flushed face out of the pure realisation, was Adrien Agreste, a grin plastered on face.

"Hi, Marinette."


	3. Chapter 3

To argue that the aura of the air was nothing but awkward would be a massive understatement. What had been two infamous heroes of the French capital city became 2 teenagers feeling somewhat awkward in the cool night breeze. Marinette was, suffice to say, freaking out. Tonight was getting more and more difficult and unexpected. Nearly dying in a literal sense is bad enough, but dying of emotional overhaul in the presence of the boy she has crushed on and loved from afar unrequited after effectively relinquishing the biggest secret she has ever harboured and admitting her feelings in one fell swoop of an emotional disaster was certainly not on the agenda. But here she was. Adrien Agreste was right before her where Chat Noir had been seconds before.

So this was real. Like, genuine. It was in those seconds that Marinette lost the confidence she harbours all the time under the mask and alias of Ladybug and became the clumsy, anxious girl that she was known all too well for. She couldn't move. She dared not to speak. Even breathing would have felt like a crime of some sorts given the circumstances. This was happening. She told him that she loved him. He HEARD her say that. And he has a stupid smile on his face.  
Marinette internally self destructed – what did that smile mean? Was he laughing at her? Did he think that she is massively pathetic, which greatly amuses him in some sick way that shows a dark side? She couldn't handle that if that were the case, the thought that the one she loves finds her pathetic or a waste of space scares her; she didn't have too many friends up until recently. That would have hurt more. Or is it pity – is he simply humouring her? Or is it, just possibly, that he's glad because it is what he wants too?  
No. That's impossible. That can't even be remotely true. He doesn't love her, he loves what he thinks is her... right?  
By impulse, or by shock, she took a few jagged steps back from Adrien, just to process this. God knows how she was going to do that without inducing a heart attack.

The awkwardness was likewise unbearable to Adrien. Marinette was flustered and freaking out. It was kind of cute for her to over-react, but it was indecisive to whether or not he should be worried about what exactly he was freaking out about. Was it because she realised that she told him she loved her? Or was it because it was him, that he was somewhat repulsive to her as he was Chat Noir as well as the rich kid and model as everyone knew him to be? The smile was still there, though, even if he thought it was better off absent from his face. He couldn't contain the fact that despite the situation he was happy that she was there, someone who was genuinely caring and beautiful, smart, and pretty much perfect...

"Um..."  
"Yeah."  
"Is this... real?" Marinette practically squeaked.  
"I'm afraid so." Adrien quietly laughed to himself, albeit in a nervous way. He closed his eyes on Marinette's face again. She was lightly blushing, averting her gaze. It was adorable; the soft red hue took up most of her cheeks, amplifying her soft blue eyes.  
"Are you sure that you mean what you say?" Marinette blurted. "I – I mean, are you sure that you were being serious and not just saying that about me because I'm Ladybug?"  
"Huh?" Adrien all of a sudden became concerned. "What are you talking about?"  
Marinette steamed up. "It's just that... How do I know if you are being serious about you liking me, or is it just because you found out about Ladybug and said all of this to convince me to take you seriously?" A tiny, single tear softly ran down her cheek – not enough to show her at her weakest, but enough to get Adrien to process what was going on. "Did you only do this because you found out who was under the mask, not because the person under it was me?"  
Adrien soaked the shock that he had in from the assumption that he had fallen witness to. "Where would you get an idea like this?" He broke into an involuntary chuckle, laughing at the absurdity of her words and giving in to her doubts. "Would you think that I would make that up, after what had just gone down today?" Marinette had no words, just ponders at where he was going with this.  
"Marinette, we almost died. _You_ almost died. Are you really saying that, in the presence of all that has happened today, that I would just make things up? That I would just say stuff to get lucky with somebody who _isn't_ stuck up and is actually _NICE to people_?" Adrien was slowly rising into a frustrated yell, something he just didn't do. It was only when he glanced into Marinette's soft blue eyes, feeling the twinge of fear that she reflected, did he calm down. He let out a deep breath. "Listen, Marinette, I have to make this pretty clear."  
Adrien walked a few steps closer to Marinette, closing the large gap between them. "It isn't a secret that I love Ladybug. I have loved her since I met her. Her charm, her strength... heck, even her stubbornness was irresistible to me. I loved her."  
Adrien took another step forward.  
"But then I got to know you, Marinette. Sure, the rocky start at the beginning wasn't great, but the way that you stood up for yourself, asserted yourself when you needed to, the way that you show kindness and compromise to pretty much everyone in Paris..." Adrien blushed a bit. He took another step. "... and the fact you accepted my umbrella, made me feel for the first time in my life I had a friend, someone that cared about me. And I fell in love with that."  
One more step. They were a step between each other now. Marinette was blushing like mad. There was no way that this was actually happening, but it was. It was almost scary. He took one more deep breath. "I fell in love with you, Chat fell in love with Ladybug, and even as we stand here today, I feel like this is... this is right. Because losing you today, whether you're Ladybug or Marinette Dupain-Cheng... my life would have been over. I... I can't live without you, Marinette."  
He took that final step forward. "I love you."  
Marinette was flushed red, tears in her eyes. No words could describe how she was feeling. All of her fears had been vanquished in the last few moments. Everything that had happened previously felt like it had a reason to happen. All of the emotion, the drive behind everything had fallen into place. All she had to do was stay vigilant and not screw the next few seconds up.

"Adrien..."

He leaned in before he could say another word. The kiss was like lightning, a soft bed and a warm bubble bath all at the same time – it was quick and terrifying, but it was comforting at the same time. Marinette's eyes shot open wide in pure shock, but she gave in to her emotions and let passion take her. It was only a few seconds, but it felt like a lifetime. They broke from the kiss, staring into each other's eyes, looks of endearment and lovingness from both, despite Marinette's eyes still being full of tears of happiness.

A small pitter-patter padded on top of them. From the sky, the softest droplets of rain dropped from the sky, as if the gods were crying about how adorable the spectacle was. A small flashback to a time before they loved each other, and quickly glanced at each other in a mutual realisation. "So," Adrien quickly jabbed in. "Nice weather we're having." The realisation of the irony of the situation sent them into a reel of laughter at the absurdity. "We're a hot mess!" Marinette giggled. "You're a hot mess." Adrien showed a bit of his Chat. Marinette shrugged it off – it didn't feel out of place or strange anymore. It felt... right. Before anyone else could say anything else, they touched lips and kissed again, passion igniting between the pair of them.

Barely 5 metres near them, two familiar kwamis were floating casually, watching as the two teenagers unfolded their attraction and love for one another. Tikki's large, fluttery eyes beamed at the sight of her chosen's romantic endeavours, her small red curved arms pressed to her red cheeks in excitement. "I can't believe it! It's finally happening, Plagg!" The cute bug creature squeaked. The black cat kwami blinked his angled green eyes nonchalantly, not really paying attention. "Really, that's so cool, whatever..." He got a daggered glance from Tikki before realising that he had no idea what was going on. "Wait, what are we talking about? Is it cheese related? It better be cheese related."  
"Oh for... look!" Tikki took her little arms and forcibly turned Plagg's head towards the action. Plagg squinted in confusion. "Okay... Why are they doing that weird thing with their mouths?" Tikki grew stars in her eyes. "They're in _love_ , Plagg, and it's beautiful!"  
"Huh." A few seconds passed.  
"So, are they going to keep doing that, or can I get cheese now?"  
"PLAGG?"  
"What? I'm hungry, and Adrien has all the Camenbert."  
The little polka dotted red kwami sighed, a tint of amusement in her breath. "Let's just let them enjoy the moment." Plagg groaned in frustration, whilst Tikki giggled to herself, as Marinette and her lover expressed themselves more in the rain against the backdrop of the calm Paris skyline.

Even the hardest battles fought by the mind can be overcome with love.

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 **Okay, it's done! Thank you so much for reading the first fanfiction I have seriously invested time in since forever! I finished this shit at 2:30 am and i am tired but I needed this story to come to a finish. I may do another one for _Miraculous_ again, I like these characters and the dynamics that they share, but that would have to start at a different time - VACATION TIME BOI!**

 **Once again, thank you for reading, I'll see you again soon!**

 **\- Frazzles**


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